


Shiver

by Occasus



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Universe, Domestic, Erwin is a workaholic, Fluff, Levi is cold and grumpy, M/M, POV Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), author is self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 18:04:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20586749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Occasus/pseuds/Occasus
Summary: On a cold winter's night Levi finds himself unable to sleep, and goes in search of his #1 heat source.





	Shiver

A full moon shines high in the dark velvet of a winter night. It’s been dark for hours, and the compound is still and quiet. The soldiers settle down earlier when it’s cold out, winter’s chill reaching through the walls to make them huddle closer to their fires. 

Despite the hour, Levi is awake. He’s _been_ awake, curled in on himself under the sheet and the thin quilt, tossing and turning. It’s too cold for him to rest, the bed is too close to the glass window panes and too far from the fire’s warmth. 

The bed is too _big_ and too _empty. _

If Levi pulls his knees closer to his chest, he can tuck them under the two-sizes-too-big shirt he’s borrowed. If he wads the quilt in his fist and holds it close to his face, he can smell a comforting scent that isn’t his own. But there’s none of the familiar warmth. 

He can’t feel his nose or his toes. Levi shivers miserably and watches his breath fog in front of his face when he sighs. He turns onto his side and glares up at the moon. What time is it? Certainly a ridiculous hour to still be awake. To still be _working. _

It’s impossible to get any sleep in such unbearable conditions. Levi sits up and swings his legs out of bed. He curses when his bare feet hit the cold, wood floor. The quilt will have to come with him, wrapped around his shoulders like a cloak, tangled in his legs and dragging the floor after him with a soft _shhhh. _

The hallway is pitch dark as Levi exits the room, but he doesn’t take a candle. He knows the way by heart. 

The corridor is even colder than the bedroom, the floor so icy under his feet that it hurts. No one in their right mind should be up at this hour, should be worried about _working_ this late at night. Any normal person would be burrowed in their bed, curled by their fire, sleeping.

Then again, the Commander has never been a _normal person._ Levi knows this better than anyone. 

The door to Erwin’s office is slightly ajar, the soft orange glow of candlelight spills through the thin gap and dances along the opposite wall. Levi marches up in his quilt, reigning his temper. He doesn’t knock or announce himself, he simply puts his fist to the pane and throws the door open, rattling it on the hinges. 

“Erwin, what the hell—”

Levi pauses, words caught in his throat. The scene isn’t what he expected. 

He expected Erwin’s golden head to be bent over his work, his shoulders hunched, thick brows pinched in concentration. It wasn’t uncommon for him to work well into the wee hours of the morning, but tonight, things have changed. 

Levi finds himself witness to a rare sight.

Erwin’s work is spread across the desktop, unfinished. The Commander, however, sits slumped in his chair, his cheek propped on his fist, the pen in his hand dripping dark ink onto his pristine white shirt. His lips are slightly parted, flaxen lashes casting shadow on his high cheekbones, his breath deep and even in slumber. 

Levi considers leaving him—Erwin will learn his lesson about working late if he wakes up with a stiff neck—but no, he shivers again and makes up his mind standing in the drafty doorway with his bare toes curled against the floor. 

It’s too damn cold. The bed is too big and too _empty. _

Quilt in tow, Levi slips into the office and pads over to the desk. He scowls at the ink-stain on Erwin’s stomach. The shirt is ruined. Erwin doesn’t stir. It’s unlike him to sleep so deeply. Clearly, exhaustion won out over the pile of reports. 

Levi doesn’t bother lowering his voice, not when throwing the damn door open failed to wake Erwin. 

“Oi, Erwin, you gonna sleep in that chair all night or what?” He bumps his foot against the leg of Erwin’s chair for good measure. 

Erwin startles, sitting straight up with a sharp intake of breath. He turns and squints at Levi, bleary eyed. “Levi?” The pen falls from his hand into his lap, making him look down at his ruined shirt. “Oh.”

“Oh,” Levi repeats dryly, “Did you have a nice nap?”

Erwin rolls his neck on his shoulders, wincing when it pops audibly. “What time—?”

“Does it matter? It’s the middle of the fucking night.”

“Oh,” Erwin says again, like his big stupid brain hasn’t kicked on yet. He looks back at Levi, blue eyes doing a head-to-toe assessment. He takes in the bare feet, the quilt-cloak, the sour expression. The corner of Erwin’s mouth twitches up, as if he wants to smile but thinks better of it. Placing the pen back on his desk, he says, “I must have dozed off.” 

“Must have.” 

Erwin rubs at an eye with the heel of his hand. His brows meet in the middle of his face when he frowns down at the documents on his desk. “These aren’t finished.” The sight of work undone drags the Commander’s focus away. Levi can see it in the little wrinkle between his eyes, the tilt of his blond head. Erwin’s dedication to his task and his station never wavers. In the face of duties to be done, he’s already forgotten the hour. As if it even matters now. 

Levi bites his tongue. Reaching out, he snags the edge of Erwin’s sleeve—the empty one—and tugs. “Come to bed.” 

Erwin glances up. He hesitates, glancing from the reports to the slender fingers gripping his shirtsleeve. His blue eyes lift to look Levi in the face, and they are ringed dark with exhaustion. His expression softens, something shifts in those eyes that makes Levi’s chest ache. 

“You’re cold.” 

Levi feels himself flush. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s winter. Or did you plan to hibernate here at your desk?” The rush of his huffed breath clouds between them. 

Erwin chuckles, and the sound is the warmest thing Levi’s felt all night. “Alright.” Erwin pushes his chair away from the desk with a terrible _skrrrk_ and stands. He takes one last guilty glance at his unfinished work. 

“It’ll be there in the morning,” Levi says, still holding the sleeve. He gives it another pull to get Erwin moving, and the second his boots start across the hardwood, Levi is out the door, hurrying back down the dark corridor. 

He waits just inside the doorway in his quilt, shivering so violently his teeth chatter, until Erwin slips quietly into the bedroom. Then Levi’s hands are moving, rushing, tugging at belts and clasps, pulling buttons free. 

“Levi—” Erwin protests.

“Shut _up,_” Levi tugs Erwin’s shirttails loose from his trousers and pushes the gapped halves away from his wide shoulders. Erwin sighs, resigned to his fate. He silently helps, shaking his one arm loose from its sleeve once Levi pops the button at his wrist. He jumps when Levi’s frigid hands come in contact with his naked skin, but doesn’t complain.

"Shit, you’re _warm.”_ Levi says in the dark, mapping the hard planes of Erwin’s stomach and chest with his fingers. His touch ghosts over the indentions left behind by the gear, the uniform that never truly comes off. On another night, he might be distracted, having the Commander near-naked beneath his hands. On another night, Levi might take a little extra time to worship, to use his mouth and his touch to pull low moans up out of that broad chest. But not tonight. Tonight, he’s after what’s under those clothes for a different reason, craving the heat that Erwin’s big body throws off like a furnace. 

He nearly knocks Erwin over in his haste to get his boots off, bending to nimbly undo laces and pull leather away from calf. Then he’s dragging Erwin’s pants down his long legs as the Commander lets out a sigh that barely hides a laugh.

In the work of a moment, Erwin stands stripped to his undergarments at the bedside. Levi drops the discarded clothes in a neat pile and sets the boots aside. He breezes past again, climbing into bed with his quilt, then reaches for Erwin’s single hand. “C’mon, I’m _freezing.”_

Erwin drops himself onto the mattress with Levi, a smile playing on his lips. He reaches for the quilt and shimmies beneath the thin edge of it, letting the majority of the ratty fabric cover Levi’s bare legs. “Remind me to put in an order for new bedclothes. These are getting worn.” 

Erwin jumps when Levi’s cold nose presses into his breastbone. “Shh,” Levi hushes, snuggling closer. “Go to sleep.” 

Erwin’s laugh rumbles through his chest beneath Levi’s cheek. He lies obediently still while Levi rearranges his limbs—arms folded between their bodies, legs tangled so his cold little toes curl into the warm spots behind Erwin’s knees.

A strong arm snakes around Levi’s narrow shoulders, holding him closer to the warmth. Erwin doesn’t seem to mind Levi’s cold skin plastered to him every place possible. 

“Better?” He asks quietly in the dark once Levi settles. 

Levi turns his face into Erwin’s chest so that his ear is directly over the steady thrum of his heart. Erwin’s skin is hot beneath his cheek, and against his side, wrapped around him. “Better,” he agrees, sensation returning to his extremities. The shivering stops. 

Dawn comes, gradual and gray, sunlight warming the compound with pale fingers. The Commander is sound asleep once more, his arm around his Captain, the two bundled against one another, temperatures perfectly balanced. 

The bed is neither too big nor too empty. There isn’t a single shiver from Levi, curled tightly to Erwin’s chest, breathing in his scent, basking in his warmth. For a small fragment in time, all is right in the world. 

Together, they rest.

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a twit-fic thread for Day 1 of Eruri Week 2019 - Roommates. I sort of liked it, and decided to clean it up a bit and turn it into a short work. Let me know what you think! Comments and kudos appreciated, thanks for stopping by. <3
> 
> Find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/occasusH).


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